Nagarjuna Sagar gates closed as Krishna River floods recede

Hyderabad: With the Krishna River floods receding, Irrigation department officials closed all the crest gates of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project on Monday, August 26. The gates were partially lowered on Sunday and fully closed on Monday as the dam reached its capacity.

Earlier, the project was receiving 49,345 cusecs of inflow and releasing 52,803 cusecs of water. The current water level is 589.90 feet, just short of the full reservoir level of 590 feet.

The project is still releasing water into the left and right canals and generating power.

The authorities opened 26 gates on August 5 due to high inflows that filled the reservoir. With the reduction in flow, all gates have now been closed. In 2023, all gates were closed for the entire year due to low rainfall in the catchment area, which includes Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.

The last time the gates were opened was August 17, 2022, when 26 gates were raised to release 3.3 lakh cusecs of water in response to severe flooding.